Portfolio Overviews

architectural art glass | church windows | restoration | residential

For your viewing convenience, we’ve organized our online Projects Portfolio into Four Primary Categories. On this page you can read brief overviews for each and see the project list for each category included in our complete online projects portfolio.

Glass as an architectural art form has very long history. Part of our mission at PRGS is to continue the thousand year old tradition of glass as an innovative component of architecture. In 2012, PRGS invested $1 million in new facilities and equipment providing more resources to meet the expanding market for architectural art glass.

CEO, Andrew Young is offering a program Trends in Architectural Art Glass as part of the American Institute of Architects Continuing System (CES) educational program. Contact PRGS if you are interested in booking this program in your city or for your architectural firm.

“Thank you again for the CES presentation. It was one of the best we’ve had in a while! Very exciting. We do want to come for a tour before too long.”
Belinda Steward, Architect http://belindastewartarchitects.com/

Historically, the earliest stained glass windows show the hand of the artist firing glass paint onto the surface of the window glass. One of our earliest church window commissions included a stippled matt on the surface of the glass that we fired in a pottery kiln.

Fast forward 40 years to where PRGS’s Rob Cooper, master glass painter and artist, prepares fine artistic renderings of images, scenes and symbols in traditional kiln-fired glass paintings. While bowing to tradition, Rob’s work expresses a personal artistic vision with each window he creates.

In our first decade, the studio worked extensively with acid etching flashed glass with hydrofluoric acid. PRGS found that the hand of the artist could be a part of a window’s design and aesthetic in a very “glassy” way.

With our 2012 facilities expansion, the innovation in glass as an expressive artistic medium continues in a big way. Our new 4,000 sq. ft. kiln formed glass studio includes a spacious and well equipped glass art studio and a kiln room that on any day can fire up to 140 square feet of kiln formed glass.

As our glass artists expand their skills and vision, we find that the possibilities for expressing an artistic vision are unlimited. Kiln-formed glass gives our studio new ways to make church windows that are beautiful and more cost effective to fit any budget.

We want to discuss your new windows with you personally. At PRGS, we know that having the opportunity to help churches create meaningful designs in stained glass to fulfill each churches’ mission is a part of our company mission and artistic ministry.

The simple fact is this. Nothing is more important to us than helping you communicate and enhance your ministry in your community. Let us be a part of your mission and create windows for you.

Traveling in Europe on a grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission in 1987, CEO Andrew Young studied restoration work of the ancient gothic stained glass windows found throughout northern Europe. In Europe, it is a cultural imperative to restore and retain their history through this artistic expression. Much the same can be said about stained glass in the United States today.

Stained glass windows flourished with the growth of this country in the late 19th and early 20th century. If your stained glass windows are 100 years old then it is time to seriously consider full restoration.

Full restoration includes removing the stained glass windows and taking them apart, discarding the lead work, and completely releading the window.

The principle we follow is that we reuse as much of the original glass as possible. And in some windows with badly damaged glass we have a large selection of traditional American made opalescent glass to match the original or can order directly from the manufacturer hard-to-find colors and textures.

Marsh Nabors, our master restoration specialist, has extensive training in stained glass restoration. As production manager in the stained glass studio, he oversees all aspects of the work to insure it meets our standard of excellence and yours as well. And, when necessary, Rob Cooper, our glass painting artist, can match the replacement painted glass piece in style and technique.

Creativity finds expression in personal and evocative ways when a home owner works with our design artists to create a work of glass art to add beauty to their home.

When remodeling often there is an opening left over that can be a perfect place to add a work of art in the middle of the home. Consider adding an art glass window in the master bathroom where privacy curtains are not practical.

The possibilities are personal and limitless to extend your style through the architecture of your home.